RIO!!!

Rio (2011)
Director: Carlos Saldanha
Genre: Animated, Family, Adventure
Running Time: 96 Minutes
Rated: PG

As the story goes, a baby Macaw named Blu (Jesse Eisenberg), native to Rio de Janeiro, is stripped from his beautiful homeland by those from the black market hoping to profit from the selling of exotic birds. Blu is lucky enough to have fallen from the smuggler's truck amidst travel and be found by a little girl named Linda (Leslie Mann). They become the best of friends, in every sense of the word, and via a little montage, we come to present day - Linda as an adult store owner, with Blu helping out in her day to day tasks and him reaping every benefit of her adoration of him. Their life is quiet until a gentleman named Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) arrives and offers a one-of-a-kind chance; Blu is only living male Macaw left and they have a female they want him to mate with. In Rio de Janeiro! Aside from having to leave all that he knows, Blu has a big problem; he never learned to fly!

This adventure takes place in the heart of this beautiful city. The energetic and native music is an integral part of the experience - so many fun songs! Being that it's 2011 and an American-made film, the featured artists are T-Pain and Jamie Foxx; they do a solid job voicing two supplemental characters and lending a hand to quite a few songs. There is no denying when this film was created and that the marketing is precise; there are quite a few current-day references and body mannerisms placed throughout that are particular to our new generation. There is not too much that is incredibly original yet it doesn't matter - everything was enjoyable: the music, the humor, the love story(s). And thus...

I give this a four out of five frames!!!



Now go fly away and see this movie, you won't regret it!

Post a thought on the forum (www.j1studios.com/forum/) or shoot me an email (bibliophagedanae@hotmail.com) with your response/thoughts!!

Danae signing off!

Zombieland

Zombieland (2009)
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Genre: Horror/Comedy/Action
Rated: R
Running time: 88 minutes

Zombieland's premise is about a young man, Columbus, (Jesse Eisenberg), who is heading to Columbus, OH in search of any living family, in an earth overtaken by zombies. He meets Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) along the way and in their travels learn about one another's idiosyncrasies such as Tallahassee's obsession with Twinkies and Columbus' rules of survival along with his ever-evident lack of contact with the female species. (All the characters are given locational names due to Tallahassee's statement of it being best not to get too attached by knowing one another's real names)

In their travels they meet sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) who are survivalists in a manner not predicted, by us or by Columbus & Tallahassee. Their travels to their respective destinations consist of creatively and with immense enjoyment, pummeling & killing zombies. Done with lots of gore, blood, guck, guts, grossness and more, for us lovers of such films - this is the perfect combination of bloodshed and silly, quirky fun. Midway through the film we have a sweet cameo by a seasoned "fighter". Some really neat features of the film include the comically stated (and strategically posted via fun 3-D text graphics) rules for survival including "Check the Back Seat", "Cardio" and "The Double Tap". Provided are quirky characters that actually don't annoy you. Some films are guilty of the trying-to-hard-to-make-you-like-the-character and come up with random nuances that are either inconsistent, in bad humor, boring etc.. These characters have just the right amount of odd behavior that some may even be able to relate too and enough substance to keep you interested in what the end of the film will bring. Shuan of the Dead was one of the first of this type of movie hybrid - it is not a movie easily lived up to but Zombieland did.

For all those who love zombie films, or horror films in general, we don't appreciate stupid moves. Must the girl in heels whose boyfriend HAD to check outside to see what was going on WITHOUT a weapon then herself go in search of him IN THE DARK with no weapon or a makeshift "weapon" consisting of a spatula? We need some characters to have a more realistic (as realistic as achievable in a zombie world :)) reaction. Shooting a zombie not once, but multiple times seems pretty realistic/wise to me. Columbus' rules of survival are just that; adapted responses due to circumstance.The four people we meet are still around because they didn't decide to walk alone in the dark, never check the back seat or just plain 'ol act foolish.

To be fair, a few things that may not be for everyone are the amount of close-up, flesh-revealing clips. Not for the faint of heart. (In my opinion though; you go to an apocalyptic film about zombies- you should expect blood and guts) This may be on the level of Dawn of the Dead and even a bit of Saw (not as extreme but in the realm of where-most-movies would pan away, this one does not). It's not done to scare you, just to gross you out and cringe all with a smile on your face and a giggle of morbid delight. In addition, of course there is a small romance exchange which is a bit cheesy.

All in all - this is a must see. If you cringe when thinking of brains and blood - this may not be for you but even those who are not jolly at the thought of brain-consumption, the witty humor is enough to capture and entertain - go see it!

I give it a five out of five frames!



Trailer:



Danae signing off!

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